Kudzu root, mung bean and pork congee
In-season kudzu root simmered with mung beans and lean pork into a silky congee — cooling, thirst-quenching and damp-clearing, a refreshing breakfast for damp-heat types.
- 55 min
- Serves 2
- Simmer
- Easy
Why it suits you: Damp-heat types have oily skin and a bitter taste and are prone to spots, and with Chushu's heat lingering and the air still humid, they easily feel thirsty and irritable. Kudzu root clears heat and generates fluids, and mung beans clear summer heat and drain water — a perfect pairing now; lean pork nourishes yin, while tangerine peel and ginger protect the stomach.
Method
Prep 10 min · Cook 45 min- 1Rinse the mung beans and soak for 1 hour, or overnight. Peel and finely dice the kudzu root. Shred the pork and marinate with the soy sauce and cornflour for 10 minutes.
- 2Bring the water to the boil, add the rice, mung beans, kudzu, tangerine peel and ginger, boil hard for 10 minutes, then simmer over a low heat for 30 minutes until the beans burst and the congee is silky.
- 3Stir in the pork to separate the shreds, simmer for 3 minutes until cooked through and season with salt.
Cautions
- Mung beans and kudzu are cooling, so don't overdo it if your digestion is weak or you get loose stools; if you're taking Chinese herbal medicine, eat mung beans at a different time as they may weaken its effect.
Chef's tips
- Choose starchy, less fibrous kudzu and dice it finely so it softens into the congee; you can load everything into a rice cooker the night before and set the congee timer.
The TCM view
Kudzu root is sweet, pungent and cool, releasing the muscles, clearing heat, generating fluids and stopping diarrhoea. Mung beans are sweet and cold, clearing summer heat, draining water and detoxifying; lean pork is sweet, salty and neutral, nourishing yin and sweetening the congee; tangerine peel and ginger are pungent and warm, settling the stomach and tempering the coolness. It clears damp-heat without harming the stomach.
